Race Recap: Run for the Lobster 5K. Fierceness? Where are You?

I was not in #FierceAndFearless nor #IAmTheStorm mode at this start line. I am usually way more focussed, and Sunday was not one of those days despite the beautiful day in Pictou.  It was an emotional week and at one point, I wasn’t even sure I was going to race.  My Dad was all about living life, yet despite his sudden passing this week, I knew I was going to do this. It was the thing to do. Then I woke up Friday with a knotty quad and couldn’t get into massage, so it was over to self-care. I attacked it with some stretching, the tiger tail, rolling with the LTM water bottle (1^st MacGyvor move), and the TENS massager.  Saturday shakeout was a typical bad dress rehearsal so I settled on goals of embracing the sun no matter what and the 5K suck….because that’s what 5K does!

Finally, the knots started coming undone by Saturday afternoon.  I got into Pictou Saturday evening in the middle of a parade, carnival and concert.  Pictou was abuzz.  I had never seen this sleepy little town so alive. As happy as I was for them, I became worried about a peaceful night sleep.  Thankfully, my room was at the back of the Inn.

I forgot my lacrosse ball in Halifax. I NEVER travel without it. With the knowledge that my habitual warmup was not going to happen, I settled into a “whatever happens, happens – meh” kind of mode. My quad was feeling better, so a bit of good news, but if it decided to get knotty again, I would back off…..not the time for injury 😉  I was, however, in serious need for positive mind shifts. The search for the turnaround points was on…

Turnaround point 1 – Realized that the water glasses in the Inn were actually glass…a makeshift lacrosse ball it became.  Got part of my mobility warmup done.  Couldn’t quit get a nice glute release or loosening of the hamstring, but the TFL got some loving:)  Had to give myself a pat on the back for the 2^ndMacGyvoresque move!

Turnaround point 2 – Warm up felt a bit rigid, but the quad wasn’t complaining so I modified my Coach-prescribed warmup, by adding a few dynamic drills at midpoint.  The second part of the warmup run felt much better. 

Turnaround point 3 – Stood in the port-a-potty line behind this family from QC speaking French as if nobody around them can understand. This attitude typically annoys me, but they were so cute and seriously impressed with the ‘little lobster race’. She was laughing at herself because she thought she was getting a lobster bib instead of a race bib.  They concluded with wanting to come to NS for more races.  All I could do was smile…NS hospitality has no bounds.

After the 3rd positive, got myself to that start line feeling a lot better, but there was still no fierce in me.  My race plan was barely in my mind. I was flying by the seat of my pants and could only hope that race wisdom would come into play.  I was way to relaxed, chatting with friends and really happy to see Coach and Donald, a fellow LTMer.  Coach stared me down and lovingly told me not to have any 4:26s in the first KMs.  So at least I had that. 

The gun goes off and up a little hill we go.  Already at the 500m mark, that little voice began negotiating when I could start accepting excuses to slow down.  I had to tell myself that these thoughts would not be entertained until after 3K. With that out of the way, it is easier to think about “1 more K” and how to deal with that K in that moment.  The original plan was: it’s OK to go faster than 4:55 in the first half (but not too much faster) and just try to hang on in the last half.  While I still had thoughts like, “gee, I wish this was a 2K race” or “this would be easier is I just slowed down”, I managed a 4:42, 4:50 and 4:48 for the first 3K.  This gave me the confidence boost that I was doing OK and managed to follow Coach’s orders.  Time to focus on the next K.

Then struggle really started, but my first thought went to my quad. It wasn’t complaining at all! So now it was about hanging in.  It’s amazing how you can feel the slightest bit of an incline and I was getting it along that beautiful Pictou shore. I tried to look at the pretty things, but that was only momentary.  I was huffing and puffing and continuously playing catch up with this pre-teen boy. I kept on hearing Coach’s voice saying stand tall and point those elbows back.  Finally passed that pre-teen….sorry kiddo ! 4th K was slower but happy with the 4:58.

I had already planned on the 5th K to be slower.  I had run up that hill in the warm up and found many reasons not to like it.  Finishing uphill in any race is cruel, let alone on one that is rocky and full of crevices!  Coach called it a snotty hill.  I think I like that descriptor better. There was also a turnaround to slow me down about 100m from the bottom of that hill.  It was going to be difficult not to face these 2 obstacles in the last 300m of the race and not say “done” at the bottom of that hill.  This was the one thing I had given myself permission to do: tanking (not walking) on the hill would be OK. 

Obstacle 1: The turnaround – These 180s should not be allowed in a race, let alone at the 4.7K mark!  To add to my little bit of misery a young, but cute child jumps into the race with his Dad.  To his credit the little guy was running pretty quickly and moved out of the way like a pro when I called out that I was coming from behind him.  I was going to make this last little bit before the hill one of the fastest parts of my race….and it felt like I did 😊

Obstacle 2: The snotty hill.  I rounded the corner to start my permitted jaunt up.  I was OK with my performance to that moment and was OK to not be PBing that day.  But you know what they say about best laid plans. Out of nowhere, I hear Coach and Donald yelling at me at the top of their lungs and that was all I needed to change my attitude. In an instant, they made me want to see what else I had left going uphill to a finish. My lungs were screaming.  My legs were moving as fast as they could.  I pass some poor guy on all fours about 50m from the finish being attended to (so no reason to stop) and all I could think was: Please don’t let that be me!  Crossed the finish line and then stopped the watch.  Walked over to the fence and hung on for a bit.  5th K – 5:19 and it was a 5K PB after all 24:53!  

When I look back at the Strava data, my pace went from a high 5:30ish to a 5:05ish going uphill.  That is so not typical me and all because I had that awesome encouragement at the finish!  THANK-YOU Coach and Donald!  That PB would NOT have been there without you❤️ 

Lesson for the day: Fierceness knows when to show up. Today I needed to begin with that beautiful soft morning.  I needed to work though the ‘meh’ of the day and choose to go positive instead of bringing me down.  I needed that distracted relaxed race start. I needed the slow calculations of each kilometer to slowly add up to success.  While I know the storm threw several challenges at me today, fierceness showed up when it needed to.  #LiveLife #FierceAndFearless #IAmTheStorm